Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1887-04-01
PORT TOBACCO, MARYLAND, April l. 1851.

ihcy took the evening train. At the
depot. some Of their friends had gathered
to hear the news.
OF each and all, they asked the same.
question.
Have YOU ever heard OF Nastalgygq
| Aud one Of them had ever heard of
4 but all agreed that it must be a
dreadful thing to have such d ficult
mme.
When they reached the CITY they
had cried ami worried themselves
se,.
/ At least the two women had. The
fithcr, with the stoicism Of his kind.
had beut constant tattoo on the car
window and whistiod an accom-.
paniment-all the time he was crying in
his heart
"oh, Absalom, my soul my sonln
Th.ro was no one to meet them, rs nc
QUO was Interested in their coming ex.
eePt Ben and the doctor, and they
neither q them had heard Of their in.
intentions.
So they went at once to the place
where Bon boadgd a drcary house
With innumcrable small, ill-vcntlated
rooms, where FOR tie entire sum that he
earacd weekly Ben Connover was per.
mHted 70 lodge
The doctor had made his hospital
rounds that night and lis last call was
on Ben. lie was young physician, and
very Jealous. over his patients. lie took
an interest in the handsome, whole.
sou'ed country boy who was unac-
eustomed to close rooms aqd sewer gas
and lonely hours, and so wrote that let
ter to his mother.
Aud as they stood on the step ringing
the gruinbliug bell he walked up and
soon discovered who they were, aud
made himself known.
"oh, Doctor, is there any hopc2
Doctor will my boy get well2
Doctor is he still alivc2"
These were the questions that were
poured into the doctors ears.
How very unfeeIing Of him to laughl
why there is nothing in the world
The matter with him As | wrote you
IT'S only bal case of nostalgia
eDoctorln said the father sternly.
put that ere word in plain English!o
"Oh, l see" laughed the doctor. 1T
IS the medical term for homesickness.n
Aud that was all that ailed ghe boy.
A good deal OF mental longing and
worry had brought on fever and Ben
Ma.- 1ast becoming really i'll, but, the
sympathetic young doctor had diagnosed
his ease correctly He was soldier who
was not sick from any fatal malady. lie
was homesck.
"Now that we're here we'Il stay and
see the sights, Sarah Ann" Mr.. Como
yer said to his wife, "and you can coddlo
Ben all you want to-"
ANA Ben was very willing to be cod
died. But it was strange that after
explaining that big medical word, the
doctor still kept coming. 1t worried
the old couple little, because they
thought Ben must be in danger after
all.
But it was the doctor who was in
danger now He had transferred his
interest in the brother to the sister. And
no word was big enough to diagnose his
case.
BUTT all came out right. Only Ben
must have tonics and directions, and at
last the doctor went out there and
established a practice, leaving out the
Latin words.
And he was right. There is no more
insidiou5 disease than homesickness.
When the Swiss soldiers, tie bravest
fighters in the world, hear the familiar
Ranz dos bachcs they lean on their car
bines and weep for their loved glaciers
and mountain pines, and often die Of
that hidden wound Of the heart-whose
classical name is nostalgia, and which
freely translated means sickness for
home. detroit Free Press